


Indelible Alisaie

by mobuyo



Category: Final Fantasy XIV
Genre: Gen, Miqo'te Warrior of Light (Final Fantasy XIV), alisaie gets to be a teenager finally, no shipping stuff you godless heathens she's a CHILD, questionable use of red magic, sparring match turns into therapy
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-11-04
Updated: 2020-11-03
Packaged: 2021-03-09 05:46:57
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 2
Words: 2,285
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/27379681
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/mobuyo/pseuds/mobuyo
Relationships: Alisaie Leveilleur & G'raha Tia | Crystal Exarch, Alisaie Leveilleur & Warrior of Light, G'raha Tia | Crystal Exarch & Warrior of Light
Comments: 4
Kudos: 15





	1. I. Pret

K'rhin collapsed to his knees, drenched in sweat. His rapier clattered to the ground beside him as his chest heaved to catch his breath.

“What do you think you’re doing?!” Alisaie scoffed. “You’re not even  _ close _ to finished!”

He sprawled out on the ground, thankful that the forest floor was blessedly cool beneath him. Of all of the places to train, it  _ had  _ to be the forest, and not the shady training hall back at the Stones. Sure, it was meant to bring them ‘closer to the elements,’ but the only element he felt close to was the sun beating down on him. He let out a groan.

“Oh, quit your whining,” she teased as she jogged over. “Is  _ this _ how the Hero of Eorzea acts in the face of hardship?”

“This is how he acts when he’s  _ exhausted _ ,” K'rhin threw an arm over his eyes. “I don’t know how you do it…”

She crossed her arms. “It gets easier, once you get the hang of it. It’s about repetition, remember: Jolt, veraero, jolt, verthunder, and repeat.”

“Why aren’t we learning fire?” he whined. “I like fire…”

“You’ve hardly began wielding the first two elements,” Alisaie sighed. “It’ll take several moons before you can even  _ try  _ to cast verfire. Now get up, or G’raha will bludgeon you to death.”

G’raha was certainly not of a mind to do so, so absorbed was he in dutifully practicing the motions from his place opposite K'rhin.

“That’s not fair,” K'rhin wheezed, getting to his feet. “He’s got the resolve of an ancient wizard in the body of a young man.”

“Actually,” said G’raha, who was listening after all, “It might please you to know that, physically, we’re only a year apart.”

“Shut up,  _ grandpa _ .”

“Enough!” said Alisaie. “If you’ve the energy for witless banter, you’ve the energy to get up and try again. Once more, from the beginning!”

K'rhin shuffled reluctantly into position.

“ _En garde!_ _Pret… Allez_!”

***

“Ha!  _ Yes! _ My point!” G’raha cheered, then caught himself. “Er, … W-well fought.”

K'rhin couldn’t help but laugh. For one who had spent so long cultivating a mysterious persona in the First, G’raha was an open book when it came to sparring. With each hard-won point, he seemed to float off of the ground with delight.

“No, no!” Alisaie dragged her hands down her face. “What was that, Rhin?! You’re not even trying!”

“Wha-- I am! It’s just…”

“You hesitated,” Alisaie huffed. “Even a moment’s pause will ruin your rotation. It needs to be second nature.”

She paused, and a smirk pulled at her lip. “Perhaps we should up the stakes a bit. Two against one!”

She brandished her rapier and backflipped into the air, landing gracefully into her stance beside G’raha, who looked simultaneously honored and envious.

“Let’s see you laze about now, eh?  _ Pret… Allez _ !”

She rocketed forward with rapier poised, scattering leaves with her speed. K'rhin barely dodged the strike by leaping backward, when G’raha struck from behind with a veraero. It sent him staggering sideways to stay upright.

“Keep up, Warrior of Light!” Alisaie teased, casting a verthunder.

He sent a jolt her way to interrupt the spell. G’raha seized the opportunity and lunged, but K'rhin parried and countered, knocking G’raha away just in time to fling a bolt of verthunder in Alisaie’s direction.

It missed the mark–– she had vanished.

“I have you now!”

His ears guided his sight above, to where Alisaie had leapt into the air and was coming down fast with her blade.

All at once, his reflexes took hold.

He bent low and spun, slashing his blade out in front of him. A blaze of fire burst from the tip, sending flames around him in a dome.

The force of it knocked Alisaie backward and she tumbled, her rapier clattering off to the side as she fell.

He dropped his blade. “Seven hells! Alisaie!”

He rushed to her side, but she was already getting to her feet and wiping the soot from her face.

“I’m fine. I’m fine!” she cried, staggering away from him.

“Alisaie,” K'rhin started. “I’m so s--”

“That concludes your lesson for the day, both of you.”

She pushed past and rushed out of the clearing, hiding her face in her sleeve.

G’raha got to his feet and brushed the leaves from himself in the heavy silence. The very air had shifted in that moment, when Rhin…  _ changed _ .

Of course, it wasn’t an unfamiliar sight. For one so battle-worn as the Warrior of Light (and Darkness), there were moments when the rhythm of battle took over his instincts. It was as if he was possessed for a moment by some otherworldly force, which disappeared just as soon as it had come over him. But to see such a reaction surface during a mere sparring match…

K'rhin had sunk to the ground and sat there, staring guiltily at Alisaie’s discarded rapier. He sighed, then, and buried his head in his knees.

“I’m an idiot,” he mumbled.

G’raha wandered over and sat beside him. “It wasn’t your fault. We were pushing you –– quite hard, I’ll admit. It’s little wonder your instincts took hold.”

“Still,” K'rhin said into his knees. “I shouldn’t have let them. I could’ve-- … She might have really gotten hurt.”

He couldn’t argue that.

K'rhin lifted his head. “Ever since the battle with Vauthry, she’s been acting strange.”

“I’m not so surprised. It was a harrowing experience for all.”

“She’s hardly taken a break from practicing ever since.”

They paused for a moment, reflecting on that fateful day.

“Could you go and talk to her?” K'rhin rolled to his knees and picked up her rapier, handing it to him. “She’ll kill me if I try to follow her.”

G’raha chuckled. “Is this an implication that I’m easier to talk to?”

K'rhin bristled and smacked his arm. “I’m saying  _ you’re  _ not the one who almost burnt her eyebrows off. Just… make sure she’s alright, please?”

“I’ll do what I can.”

***

“Tell a single soul about this and I’ll kill you,” Alisaie muttered, watching the aquamarine glow of G’raha’s healing magic as it traced over her arm.

“I wouldn’t dream of it,” he assured her.

It wasn’t hard to find her–– she’d made for the nearest clearing, and it didn’t take much coaxing to lure her from the tree she was sat in, especially when he offered up her rapier as a peace offering.

He finished healing and the glow faded away, leaving her forearm as good as new. Though less could be said of her sleeve, which was blackened with ash.

She sighed, looking away.

“It took me  _ two moons _ to conjure fire. And he just wielded it on his own, not even a week into training. Like it’s nothing. I know he’s the Warrior of Light, but…”

“But you still feel the need to prove yourself worthy of fighting at his side, though you know such a thing is nigh impossible,” G’raha finished, then smiled at her surprised expression. “The feeling is not so unfamiliar as you might think.”

She looked at the ground once more and sighed. “You know… That day in Kholusia, it wasn’t just K'rhin that lost you. You were  _ my  _ friend, too.”

His breath hitched. Even in this body, the phantom ache of Emet-Selch’s bullet pulled at the space between his ribs.

Alisaie’s hands balled into fists against the grass. “I almost lost you both, and there was nothing I could do about it.”

“Alisaie,” G’raha put a hand on her shoulder. “You’re  _ seventeen _ .”

That seemed to affect her. She was quiet for a moment.

But she collected herself, and smirked playfully. “ _ Eighteen _ , counting the time I spent trapped in the First.”

He winced. He still hadn’t forgiven himself for that.

“R-regardless, you’re young. Hardly of an age to be comparing yourself to the Hero of Eorzea. And, that aside, skills in combat alone are no way to gauge your worth.”

“Oh? What else is there, then?”

“Your personality, for one. Your talents. Your daring nature. Your confidence, your ability to inspire others to action… your incredible capacity for teasing…”

She chuckled at that, and he dared to feel proud of himself for having made her laugh. They sat in contemplative silence for a while, watching the swaying of the trees in the breeze.

G’raha perked up. “I’d like to try something, if you’ll allow me. It’s a little thing I learned from an old friend, many years ago.”

Alisaie nodded, never one to back down from a challenge.

So he got to work, wandering about the clearing and gathering several small sticks from the forest floor as she watched. He set the pile in front of her and sat down.

He handed her a single twig from the pile. “Could you break this?”

She eyed him suspiciously and promptly snapped it in two.

“Right. Now...”

He pulled the ribbon from his braid, tying the remaining twigs together into a tightly-packed bundle. He placed the bundle in her arms.

“How about this? Could you break it?”

She shrugged. “No, I suppose not.”

He took the bundle back from her, setting it in his lap as he untied it. “So you see, our strength comes not from our individual talents, but from the combined abilities of  _ each _ of us working together. As a team–– as a family. And I believe that learning just  _ how _ you fit into this family can make all the difference.”

“How I fit in…” she echoed, thoughtfully, then perked up. “Thank you, G’raha. I know what to do.”


	2. II. Allez

K'rhin was halfway through the third rehearsal of his apology when Alisaie burst into the clearing, brandishing her rapier.

“K'rhin Tia of O’Ghomoro, Warrior of Light!” she shouted. “I, Alisaie Leveilleur of Sharlayan, Scion of the Seventh Dawn, challenge you to a duel!”

G’raha tumbled in after her, beside himself. “Th-this isn’t quite what I meant!”

K’rhin furrowed his brow. “Wait, aren’t I  _ also  _ a Scion––?”

“ _ En garde!! _ ”

She came straight at him and attacked. He unsheathed his blade just in time to parry, stumbling backward. “W-wait, Alisaie--”

“Less talking, more fighting!”

Her jolt struck him in the side with a sizzling crack. She pressed him with a rapid onslaught of blows––left, right, up, down. He bobbed and ducked, all the while begging:

“We can talk this out!”  _ Dodge _ . “I’m sorry!”  _ Parry _ .

“Give it your all!” Alisaie shouted, readying another spell. “I won’t yield until I see you focus!”

K'rhin took a steadying breath. He centered himself, focusing on the movement of wind through the trees…

He thrust a veraero out just in time to block Alisaie’s jolt, and lunged to meet her thrust. They locked blades, both rapiers thrumming with the red magic coursing through them. They were breathless, pushing hard against each other’s blades, neither of them yielding.

“Not quite,” Alisaie smirked.

She broke away and raised her blade skyward. With a swishing sound, she rocketed across the clearing as if pulled by some invisible force, and appeared behind G’raha. Before he could react, she hooked one arm around his chest, and with the other, pointed the tip of her rapier to his neck.

“Now I have a hostage,” she panted, a wild grin upon her face. “Now what will you do? Think on your feet!”

“Wait,” said K'rhin. “Just  _ wait _ \--”

“Your hesitation will be his death!” she shouted, and raised her blade to strike.

He aimed his rapier and fired.

The spell struck true, whizzing past G’raha’s neck and knocking Alisaie backward. She skidded to a graceful halt despite the potent hit, and though she could’ve countered, she tossed her blade to the side and raised her hands in the air.

“I yield."

K'rhin sighed in relief and dropped his weapon, nearly collapsing to the ground in exhaustion, much to Alisaie’s amusement. She trotted over, dusting herself off with a confident grin.

“I trust you’ve learned your lesson for the day, then?”

K'rhin raised a brow. “Don’t talk when you’re trying to kill me?”

She laughed. “That, and to  _ focus _ . When you engage your entire mind and truly center yourself, you’ll find your accuracy and spellcasting is much improved.”

_ Huh _ . As much as he hated to admit it, he was rather impressed.

“I may not be your equal in magic potency,” Alisaie said, “but I daresay I know how to sharpen your skills.”

She raised her blade in a salute to the sky as the sunlight cast a spotlight down on her. “For that is my role: to propel my allies to new heights with my fighting spirit!” Then shrugged, “…Or, something like that.”

K’rhin smiled. She was so sure of herself, ever determined to win the day–– a young hero with the world ahead of her, full of promise and vigor. An ever-burning hope for the future.

He nodded, sitting upright. “Thanks, Alisaie. It’s friends like you that remind me what we’re fighting for.”

She reddened at that. “Don’t go heaping praise on me, now. We’ve still got another technique to learn by sundown.”

He groaned in disbelief, and flopped to the ground once more. G’raha hesitantly raised a trembling hand.

“N-not to interrupt, but… You weren’t  _ actually  _ going to kill me, were you?”

She winked at him. “Any slacking in your training, and we’ll soon know the answer.”

G’raha paled as she clasped her hands together.

“Right, then! Let’s get back to it. Blades at the ready!”

Despite their many protests, K'rhin and G’raha spent the rest of the day in training until their legs nearly gave out. And all the while, Alisaie dutifully pushed them to their limit, as driven as ever.

What they didn’t notice, though, was a glint in her eye that hadn’t been there before.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> take it from me, a former competitive fencer: red mages are cool as shit and real fencing is lame as hell in comparison.


End file.
